Between The Cup and the Lip
by iIzzJiao
Summary: [AU] Hinata is confused. She likes Naruto, right? But when Sakura throws a party and asks Naruto to be her date, things change. KibaHina, bitmoreslight NaruSaku
1. Chapter 1

Yay. So, this is my first **real** story. I'm excited. It's a bit sketchy now, but it'll get better. Promise. Here's a warning, though: I know almost _nothing_ about Japanese culture. This being a school-fic and whatnot, I had to put that out there.

_Yay, title changed! _

Rated to be safe, and for some language and later content.

**Disclaimer! ; **I don't own Naruto.

* * *

**Between The Cup and the Lip [[there's many a slip**

**Chapter 1**

"Naruto, what are you on?" Haruno Sakura started nudging the boy with spikey blond hair who sat next to her. He was facedown, drooling on his notebook.

"Huh?. . . Oh, umm, crack," Uzumaki Naruto responded lazily, still resting on the desk. Sakura glared at him and smacked him hard upside the head. Roused from such a nice nap, he sat up, blinked, and yawned loudly.

"No, baka! I mean 'What _math problem_ are you on?'!" she jabbed her finger a few times at the open math book in front of him, making her point. He stared at the thick book as if it had fallen from the breaks in the white ceiling tiles. Sakura groaned and rolled her eyes. He wasn't even on the correct page.

"That? Heh heh heh," he grinned sheepishly and laughed, rubbing the back of his head. Quickly as he could, he spit out: "Ididn'tstart." Sakura sent another blow to his skull. "Ahh! Sakura-chan! Stop hitting me!"

"Once you start doing your work! If you fail this assignment, I will too!"

Hyuga Hinata watched from the last row of the classroom as the two bickered at the front. She hated to admit it, but she was jealous. Of course, a young woman as calm and gentle as herself would never show any hard feelings. After all, it wasn't really Sakura's fault Naruto liked her so much. Was it? Hinata's pearly, pale eyes fixed themselves on the pink-haired girl who was, at that moment, scolding Naruto while slapping him silly. How Hinata wished she could be as outgoing and beautiful and loved as Sakura. Maybe then she would be respected by her family. Maybe then Naruto would notice her.

For a few years now, she had thoroughly admired that boy. He was everything she felt she wasn't – confident, persevering, optimistic, (stupid) – and she couldn't help wanting to get closer to him. Especially when he had once cheered her on and made her feel like she really meant something. Though it was a full 3 years ago, she would never forget.

- flashback –

_Hinata had never been good with sports. Or people, for that matter. Having to play during gym class in 7__th__ grade was downright horrible._

_It was a bright and sunny day, ideal baseball weather. So baseball it was. Near the end of class, with the scores tied, Hinata found herself at bat. Unfortunately._

"_Don't mess this up," A faceless teammate snarled at her and handed her the bat. Everybody knew how Hinata was not the best at sports. She could feel all their eyes on her, glaring like there was no tomorrow, and she saw numerous crossed fingers. Was she really that bad? Gulping, she stepped to the plate, stumbling a bit, and tried to hold the bat correctly._

"_GO HINATA-CHAN! YOU CAN DO IT!" out of nowhere, Naruto's strident voice broke the tension in the air, along with Hinata's anxiety. "SHOW 'EM WHAT YOU GOT! C'MON!" he hollered from third base. He began waving his hands around, screaming more words of encouragement. Hinata lifted the corners of her mouth just a bit, and straightened her posture. _

_The ball was pitched, and with her newfound motivation, Hinata hit it as hard as she could. It was a weak grounder, but it bounced straight to the most desirable place on the field. Right towards that lazy boy Nara Shikamaru, who was too busy watching the clouds float away in the afternoon sky. Oh, how he wished he could float away with them. The ball simply rolled past, and he didn't notice it until one of his team mates went by and got the ball, muttering a few colorful words. By the time the ball was thrown back to the pitcher, Hinata's team had won the game._

"_That was great, Hinata-chan!" Naruto congratulated Hinata with a warm pat on the back. As her cheeks heated up, so did feelings for him._

- end flashback -

"Hinata, are you finished yet?" Hinata instantly turned her attention to her close friend, Inuzuka Kiba.

She nodded and feigned a smile.

"Thinking about Naruto, eh?"

Hinata didn't answer, but Kiba could tell it was a yes.

Kiba knew about her crush on Naruto. Hell, everybody knew except said oblivious blond boy. It was pretty much common knowledge after a while. Kiba, however, seemed to be the one who supported Hinata's crush the most. And for that, Hinata was beyond grateful.

"Well, if you're finished with your work," Kiba started talking again as if the moment of silence between them had never happened, "Can you help me?" Hinata liked how his oddly pointed teeth peeked out from under his lip like fangs when he grinned. It was cute, she thought; he so resembled a puppy, with pointy teeth and scruffy brown hair. She nodded, and smiled again. This time it was genuine.

- - -

"Please, Sasuke-kun?" as she fished her books out of her locker after lunch, Hinata could hear Sakura walking down the hallway, begging Uchiha Sasuke for something. What else was new? Hinata glanced over her shoulder, seeing Sakura clinging to Sasuke's dark blue T-shirt sleeve. 

"For the last time, **no**. I'd rather die than spend any time with you. Now leave me alone or I'll stick your elbow up your damn nose!" Sasuke snarled, nothing less than serious. Hinata found Sasuke's threat to be pretty witty. So witty, in fact, that she giggled a bit.

Sasuke was clever, however nothing else about him had ever appealed to Hinata. Despite being smart and "moderately attractive" (in Hinata's eyes), he was callous, arrogant, and seemed eternally pissed off by one thing or another. Hinata found that to be a major turn-off. It didn't help that he had a vast majority of the female student population kneeling at his feet and wrapped around his fingers, either. Hinata was convinced there were a few in that sea of girls who would die for a date with him. Well, more along the lines of breaking a nail. If they were that brave.

Sakura noticed Hinata's giggle and marched over to her, giving Sasuke a chance to escape.

She waved at Hinata, "Hiya, Hinata-chan. What's so funny?"

"Oh, n-nothing,"

"If you say so. Wanna walk to class together?" Offered Sakura with a smile.

"Sure," Hinata returned the smile. Once she closed her locker, they strolled side by side through the crowded hallway.

"Hinata-chan," Sakura began, "I have a question."

"Hmm?"

"Well, do you –"

"Sakura-chan! Hinata-chan!" Hinata would recognize that enthusiastic voice from anywhere. It was none but the one and only Naruto. As if instinctively, she started blushing.

"Hey, you two!" he beamed at them.

"Naruto!" Sakura screeched, hitting him on the head for the umpteenth time that day. "Hinata-chan and I were talking!"

"I-it's ok, Sakura-chan," Hinata mumbled timidly.

"Sorry!" Naruto threw his hands in the air, "Sakura-chan, wanna go to Ichiraku's after school today?" he paused, "You can come too, if you'd like, Hinata-chan."

"I'll go if you go," Sakura winked at her shy friend, a sparkle of light in her emerald eye.

"O-ok, w-why not," Hinata gazed at the floor.

"Yes!" Naruto leapt with loads of joyful glee. More joyful glee than his body could handle. Seeing as when he leapt, he hit the locker he was leaning against and somehow got sprawled across the still busy hallway. Hinata blushed more and tried to appear happy. Though, in the back of her mind she knew that Naruto was only that excited because of Sakura.

* * *

I don't like the flashback part. It's lame. But it was the best I could think of. 

"Pretty witty" and "clever, however". Catch that?

Oh, and if that joke about crack offended you for any reason, I'm sorry. That scenario happened to me once and I thought it would be fun to put it into a fanfic. I also thought Naruto would be the type of person to just say "yes". It was either that or "huzzah".

Review if you must. But if you do, please don't flame. Constructive critisism is always ok, just try not to sound like you're flaming. Don't write in all caps lock, don't use excessive exclamation marks, don't swear.

- jiao


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you for the review, KaRiSa!

I was thinking of adding another chapter in front of this one, but I couldn't figure out what to write without making it sound boring.

You'll also see the appearance of other characters later on.

Don't own.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Sakura, Hinata, and Naruto were sitting, respectively, side by side at Ichiraku's Ramen Place after school. Hinata and Sakura each had their meals and were quietly eating. Naruto, of course, was inhaling his ramen with obnoxious slurping noises.

After he slammed his empty bowl down on the table and burped, he turned to face the two girls.

"Hey, I have a joke to tell you guys!" he shouted, suddenly very excited.

The girls looked up from their food. Sakura glared at him while Hinata blushed and smiled softly.

Naruto didn't wait for either of them to say anything. He commenced the "joke" right away.

"Alright, so there are two penguins in the bathtub. One of the penguins says 'Please pass the soap.' " He was quiet, stifling giggles, and adding dramatic tension all at once, "and the other one says 'What do you think I am, a typewriter?' " he then lost control and disintegrated into a fit of hysterical laughter, rolling around on the floor with tears leaking from his eyes.

Sweatdrop, anyone?

"That…didn't make any sense," Sakura spoke slowly, cautiously. It was hard to tell what Naruto would do next when he was in this state. Nearly as bad as when Rock Lee was drunk.

"I KNOW!" Naruto stood, still laughing but not as hard. "That's why it's so funny." he spoke the last words under his breath, as if it was a secret.

Hinata started to chuckle along with Naruto. She was beginning to understand that it was the confusing and irrelevant aspect that made this joke funny. Then it was really quite hilarious. Hearing Hinata laugh, too, Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sakura.

"See?" he teased, "At least someone has a sense of humor!"

"The funniest part of that joke was when you got on the floor and made a fool of yourself in front of everyone else in here!" Sakura retorted, her tone teased as much as Naruto's did. Even though they were the only people there. Hinata was relieved Sakura hadn't come down on her.

Who was she kidding? Sakura was her friend. Hinata knew that Sakura wouldn't purposely do anything to be cruel. To Hinata, anyway. Naruto was another story.

He set his arms across his chest and sulked. Sakura ignored him.

"Hinata-chan, if you're done we can go. To save ourselves from further embarrassment," Shot Sakura with a sharp sideward glance to Naruto. "Anyway," she added in Hinata's ear, "I still need to ask you that question."

"What question, Sakura-chan?"

"None of your business, Naruto! Get lost!" instead it was Sakura who put her money on the counter and strolled out. "You coming, Hinata-chan?" she called from behind that white curtain-y thing.

"Y-yes!" Hinata set her money on the table as well and turned to Naruto. "U-um, bye, N-Naruto-kun. S-see you t-tomorrow." She managed to stutter before getting off the stool and following Sakura.

"W-what was it y-you w-wanted to ask me, Sakura-chan?" Hinata inquired once they were a safe distance from Ichiraku's.

"Hinata-chan, do you like…"

For a second, Hinata thought Sakura was about to say the name of a boy, like Naruto or someone. Anyone. Yet, she didn't.

"American cuisine?"

Hinata was, in a not-so-simple word, flabbergasted. Not only was the question set up to be asking the name of a boy, she suspected Sakura, out of all people, would be most interested in Hinata's (lack of) love life. She could swear she felt a bug fly into her mouth as she gaped.

"Y-yes, I s-suppose. W-why ask?" Nope, it wasn't a bug. Maybe a piece of dirt or something…

"My parents are letting me do something special for getting such good grades last semester, and there's a new American restaurant opening downtown. I'll invite you and… and… and everyone!" Sakura took a deep breath and calmed down, sensing herself getting a little too enthusiastic. 'God, I'm more and more like Naruto every day'.

"Hmm," she continued, stroking her nonexistant goatee, "Well, maybe not _everyone_. Afterwards we can all go over to my house, since my parents agreed that I would be able to do _whatever_ I wanted, they left for a night."

Hinata's eyes widened and Sakura smirked.

"Don't worry, I think they took all their sake with them," As if that would help. Hinata had only gone to 2 sleepovers in her life! And neither of them involved teenage boys who would probably bring their own sake.

"I-I'll see i-if I can m-make it. When i-is it?" Hinata had to say, Sakura's whole idea did sound pretty fun. She could always tell her father she was going out to a sleepover with Sakura and Ino, because that really was the truth.

"I'm thinking about next Saturday around 5 or 5:30, to the Sunday after whenever we wake up!."

"S-sounds good. S-see you th-there, Sakura-chan!" Hinata turned to leave, but was stopped by Sakura's hand on her sweater-covered arm.

"Hinata-chan, wait! I want to ask you one more thing."

'Now is she going to ask who I like?' Hinata pondered quietly.

"I want you and Ino-chan to help me… decide what to wear. Because, I sort of want to bring Naruto as a, you know… date," she whispered the last word, but Hinata heard it loud and clear.

"A-a date? I-I thought you h-hated him, a-and liked S-Sasuke" Hinata tried not to sound too selfish, but jealousy was close to getting the best of her.

"That's the thing, y'know? To tell the truth, I only act like I hate him because I do actually like him. A lot. And I only pretend to like Sasuke because I think it's fun to piss him off more than he already is," Hinata felt another surge of jealousy pass over her. Not because Sakura liked Naruto, but because she was brave enough to confess it. Deciding she was too nice to ruin her friendship with Sakura, Hinata smiled.

"O-of course I'll h-help,"

"Great! Oh, and if you wanted to, you can get Kiba to come. Like, as your date!" that said, Sakura skipped off, leaving Hinata standing in the middle of the sidewalk with a plethora of emotions running through her mind.

Jealousy because she wanted Naruto to be with her. Happiness because she had been the one to make her friend so glad. Excitement because she couldn't wait for the sleepover. Anxiety because she had to think of something to say to her father.

Last of all, confusion because Sakura had mentioned Kiba.

* * *

So there's chapter 2. I'm also working on 3 now. 

The nonexistant goatee thing is another silly inside joke.

You know how a lot of other stories that don't star Sakura make her the bitchy antagonist? Frankly, she's not my favorite character (Hinata is!), but I wanted to make her sound nicer because I'm annoyed with seeing her portrayed as a slut.

I really don't care if anybody reviews or not, they would be appreciated, but if you do, don't flame.

- jiao


	3. Chapter 3

I'M ON FIRE!

Don't own Naruto. Don't own PopTarts either, but I'm not sure if it matters too much (you'll see).

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Hinata woke up and yawned. She was tired.

Bold, black numbers on her digital clock's luminescent screen read 3:00 am. The alarm would ring in 3 hours, but she could hardly shut her eyes.

'I can't believe I'm losing sleep over this,' she thought. Sighing, she rolled over in her bed once again to get more comfortable and pulled her white sheets up to her chin.

Sakura's words from earlier that day kept on repeating themselves.

_You can get Kiba to come_

_Like, as your date!_

Were she and Kiba really that close? Did others really see them as more than friends? Hinata had never thought so. They were only friends, nothing more.

Then why did Sakura ask Hinata about him? Maybe she was just trying to be nice, because she knew Hinata could get lonely without someone to talk to, because the quiet girl hardly got along with anyone except Kiba. Maybe she didn't have enough time to talk to him, so she would have Hinata invite him. Maybe...

There were too many "maybe"s. Hinata muffled her frustrated scream with a fluffy pillow. A second later, she breathed in the lavender scent of her shampoo and calmed down, telling herself to _not_ freak out.

In a way, Hinata could see where Sakura got the idea. Hinata's locker was right next to Kiba's and they had a lot of classes together. Sometimes they hung out after school. Still…

This situation was all too confusing for Hinata. She would think about it later, when she wasn't so tired. But she couldn't really forget…

It seemed that as soon as she let her eyelids fall, an obnoxious beeping noise started. Great.

Hinata hated her alarm clock. She hated the alarm. First it would start with a soft beeping, like a heartbeat. If she was feeling lazy and stayed in bed, it would get louder and louder, driving Hinata up the wall, and ultimately waking her up.

Anyway, she had to wake up somehow. She presumed waking up this way beat having her elder cousin Neji or her father rousing her. Yes, irritating alarm clocks, good. Underestimating fathers and stern cousins, bad.

Hinata waited a few minutes (maybe too many)until she rolled out of bed and into the bathroom, taking her blue plaid skirt and white blouse with her. Normally, Hinata wore her beige sweater, with the school logo on it, sure enough, over the school uniform's thin white blouse. Not that she didn't have a nice body, she was just really modest about it. That, and she didn't want people to think she was a slut because she was hot and they were jealous (ehh).

Morning routine: shower, blow-dry, get dressed, brush teeth, comb hair, check for imperfections. Hinata stood in front of the mirror, on step 6. She picked up the hairbrush again and repeated the process of running the thin teeth through her long blue-ish tinted black hair - step 5. She didn't know why it was blue-ish tinted. Just that it was – she hadn't dyed her hair like Sakura. Only Sakura could pull off having pink hair.

Hinata examined her reflection one more time. Something was missing. Ah, yes. She ran into her room, picked up her bookbag, and slung it over her shoulder. _Voila, et c'est fini._ (Ta-da, and it's complete).

When she finally considered herself ready, she went into the kitchen for breakfast. It was already 7:10. Enough time to grab something quick to eat and get to school by 7:30. Neji had suggested to drive her, but she decided walking was more fun.

She was too busy scouring the pantry to realize how fast time was passing.

"Hinata-sama, aren't you going to be late?" Hinata stuck her head out of the pantry to see Neji, casually getting a bowl from the cupboard for his daily cereal. Ohcrap, she was!

"Y-yes!" It was already 7:20. Time flies when you're looking for something appealing to eat. She grabbed the first thing she saw – a strawberry PopTart pack (you know how there's 2 PopTarts in one wrapper) – and rushed out the door before Neji could ask if she needed a ride.

Hinata jogged a few blocks, then checked her watch. 5 minutes away at 7:24. She could make it. After all, _class _didn't start until 7:40. Panting lightly, she opened the shiny silver wrapper of the PopTart and broke off a piece to munch on. Yep, life was good.

"Hinata!" just who she was wanting to talk to – and avoid. A familiar puppy-looking boy was running down the sidewalk from behind her.

"O-ohayo, Kiba-kun!" Hinata stopped and waited for him to catch up to her, then they started walking.

"Hinata, you're late,"

Hinata smiled, "Oh? W-why is that?" she always found herself a little stuttering less when she was around Kiba.

"Because I'm always late. And me running into you on my way to school means you're just as late as I am," he grinned, exactly the way Hinata liked him to grin.

They walked in silence, until Hinata spoke up.

"Kiba-kun, do you… do you… do you want..." how hard was it to ask if he wanted to go to Sakura's "party" with her?

"Yes…?"

"Doyouwantthispoptart?" she blurted out. Kiba looked down at the strawberry PopTart in her small hand, then up to her blushing face.

"Um…ok." Hinata handed it to him.

"H-here, then," her hand brushed his ever-so-lightly. She pretended she didn't feel the electricity passing between them.

They continued to walk in silence.

"Kiba-kun, that wasn't really the question I w-was planning to ask you," stated Hinata. Kiba cocked his head and gave her a look as if to say "Are you going to offer me more food?"

"Shoot."

"E-excuse me?" Hinata had thought Kiba meant to say the "S word". He had surely cussed before.

"I mean go ahead."

"Next weekend S-Sakura-chan is, sort of, throwing a party. Sh-she's bringing Naruto as a d-date and I wondered i-if you wanted to come. W-with me."

Kiba's eyes widened. So Sakura asked Naruto out. Wait…then what was Hinata doing?

"So… you're asking me out, to go to that thing… as your date?"

"Yes… No! No, yes. No. I-I mean, sort of. T-to accompany me, b-but not l-like a real _date _date." Was the closest Hinata could get to a description. Boy, how pathetic did she sound?

Kiba nodded. "I'll go,"

"Y-you will?"

"Yep. Next weekend, right?"

"Mmhmm. A-around 5 or 5:30 on S-saturday. I'll ask Sakura-chan about the d-details or you c-can ask her or something…" Hinata let yet another moment of silence pass between her and her friend. Correction, "date".

"O-oh, Kiba-kun, she also s-said you could… stay overnight. A-at her house. Well, i-if we're going back t-to her house to h-hang out, I d-don't think we would really have a chance to get home. W-without appearing suspicious, anyway. P-plus, it's a lot easier j-just to stay there, i-isn't it? I-I mean, wouldn't it be? I guess you c-could always lie or something and I d-don't think we'd be doing anything th-that bad and I didn't think sh-she would invite m-many people and –"

Out of the blue, he laid his finger on her lips, quieting her. "I get it," he murmured. There were tiny PopTart crumbs on his fingertip.

Their eyes met.

"O-ok," Hinata squeaked.

The two walked in silence the rest of the way.

* * *

Ehhh, that was sort of boring. But I didn't want to make chapters overwhelmingly long, where the little scrolly bar on the side is a millimeter thick. (though i guess my author notes aren't helping this situation.) 

I also don't know stuff about driving in Japan, either, so I just set it to the American standards and whatnot. Really, it's only a fanfic, but it bugs me when things aren't correct like that.

That's also why I need a reason for Neji to be calling Hinata "Hinata-sama". I just looked it up now, and found out that "sama" -- correct me if I'm wrong -- is for somebody who was higher in status, thus a more respectful title. Either Neji's simply a respectful person or a kiss-up. Or something else. My theory is his history in this AU story should be, like, his father and Hinata's father fought in some kind of war and Hinata's father lived while his died, and who knows what happened to his mother, so Hiashi took him in and gave him the food and shelter and everything, and maybe that's why he uses "sama" as the suffix on Hinata's name. This is a Hinata story, though, not a Neji story. There's really no point into going through all the trouble to find why Neji says "Hinata-sama". So forget I said anything -.-;;

Sakura's "party" is sounding kinda lame-ish to me. I dunno, it just seems weird. But I guess that's what "she" chose, so whatever, and I've already written it down, and defying it will throw off the whole natural order of my story! (I've been watching Charmed) Well, it's only a fanfic. I suppose, one of the fun parts about fanfics is that you can make them whatever you want. Though I had a few ideas planned, I'm not sure they'll fly with the guys in the fic. If they did, it would be pretty OOC. I have an idea. It's a **_s_**ecret. You c_**a**_n't _**k**_now. Wh**_e_**e.

I've decided that reviews are appreciated.

Don't get used to the speed. Next update will probably take a _lot_ longer than the rate I've been going. I'll try not to be too long, but I can't guarantee a new chapter each day. Though that would be nice, wouldn't it...

- jiao

PS; it's 1:30 in the morning and I have no life. Dx. But I am hunting for a new title.


	4. Chapter 4

Whoot.

Changed the title last week. I'm feeling pretty good.

I am thankful for the few reviews I got. x3

Ehhh, I was thinking about that "Hinata-sama" thing and decided it made much more sense with a car accident instead of a war. War seems too dramatic.

Anywayz, I don't own.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Hinata couldn't think of anything but Kiba. The day was spent in a daze; she would ask herself all these questions, and try to find reasonable answers. Why did he do that? Was she really being so annoying? Or was it really an excuse to touch her? Would he actually _want_ to? And why did it feel so weird? She was more confused than she had been that morning.

Having virtually nothing (important) to do when she got home from school, she resorted to doing something unimportant. Log onto the computer and check email. She didn't usually – never felt like she had to because nobody cared to send her anything – but desperate times call for desperate measures.

She was surprised when she saw an email from Sakura, sent a few minutes earlier. Sakura had left the subject line empty, but Hinata had a good feeling she knew what the message was about. And to think she had almost forgotten. The topic had merely been pushed to the back of her mind… while Kiba dominated the rest.

Hinata opened the memo.

_Hey guys,_

_The dates are set now. On Saturday, we can meet at ((insertrestaurantnamehere)) at 6 pm. I attached some directions. And after that, we can go to my house and hang out. (:_

_Hinata and Ino, I'll call you guys._

_Sakura_

'Saturday…' Hinata thought about the date. It was Tuesday, so Saturday was 4 days off.

Ah, yes. She still had to ask her father if she could go. She had almost forgotten that, too.

Before going to her father's office, where he spent most of his time, she looked at the list of people Sakura had sent the message to. Ino, Naruto and herself. Sakura probably figured Ino would get Shikamaru or Chouji to go, while Hinata would bring Kiba, who might tell Shino. Hinata guessed that there weren't going to be many people, merely the few in their little group of friends. Sakura thought big parties were boring.

Next, Hinata looked at the attatchment. It was a sketch Sakura had drawn (there was a cute little heart and smiley face where the final destination was) and scanned. Hinata printed it.

Finished with the computer, she turned it off left her room. Off to see her father, Hyuga Hiashi.

The door to the office was closed. As usual. Hinata tapped her knuckles against the it.

"Come in," Hiashi's low voice commanded. Hinata set her hand on the doorknob when all of a sudden, the door opened itself! No, it was only Hinata's younger sister Hanabi slipping out of the room. Hinata wondered why her sister had been there, though she was fully-full-on aware that Hiashi held Hanabi on a pedestal high above Hinata… in his mind, of course. They were probably discussing Hanabi's "future" in the "family business", since she was always so interested in it and Hinata wasn't. The Hyuga's made glasses. (LOL)

After Hanabi squeezed by, Hinata entered the room and bowed. She straightened up and waited for him to speak to her before she said anything.

"What is it you are here for?" his eyes were firm as they bore into Hinata's matching pair.

"Sakura is having a…" Hinata thought of an appropriate word to use, "sleepover next Saturday, to the following Sunday. She wants me to go. M-may I?" She always tried her hardest not to stutter in front of her father.

"Has she told you who else will be attending?" he asked.

Hinata nodded. "Yes…" it wasn't really lying if she didn't tell the whole truth, was it? "Ino."

"That's it?"

Hinata nodded again.

"Go ahead," and he waved her out of the room, his cold white eyes returning to the papers in front of him.

"Thank you," Hinata repeated the low bow and left, softly shutting the door. That was easier than she had anticipated. He didn't care as much as she had anticipated.

- - -

"Hinata, are you sure that's the right answer?" Kiba said, glaring at the equations on the paper. It didn't make sense to him. He tossed his notebook over their legs to the white-eyed girl. There was a big question mark occupying the only blank space at the corner of the page.

He and Hinata were sitting on opposite ends of a bench with their backs against the armrests and their knees bent at the middle. They were reviewing their math homework that Friday afternoon after school and before the weekend started. Hinata's pink flip-flops overlapped the toes of Kiba's worn-out tennis shoes, just a little.

"Yes, Kiba-kun, I am," she smiled at him as he looked at her, appearing very puzzled, "Here. See my work." Hinata tossed his notebook back over, and between the pages she wedged a piece of paper with numbers and arrows scribbled everywhere. He barely caught it.

"I still don't get it," he muttered, comparing the neat handwriting on her notes to his messy script. Then he slid off his side of the bench, notebook in hand, and kneeled next to Hinata.

The bench was close to the ground and Kiba wasn't exactly short. On his knees, his head was right alongside hers, breath mingling. He set the notebook on her lap and pointed to one of the problems. His fingers feathered over her knee and Hinata blushed from the contact.

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?" his nose scrunched up, as if it disgusted him.

"W-well…" Hinata didn't get far in explaining. Her phone rang just in time. She fumbled through her backpack to locate the source of the upbeat ringtone.

"Hello?" 'Pfft,' Kiba thought, 'girls and phones."

"_Hey, Hinata-chan!"_ Sakura's voice was on the other side, high and excited. "_Can you come over now? Ino-chan's here already."_

Hinata recalled that Sakura had wanted her to go help her solve the timeless question of "what to wear" with Ino.

"I'll be right over." Sakura hung up before Hinata could say goodbye. She turned to Kiba. He rolled his eyes playfully.

"U-um… We can m-meet up again l-later," she said, "I have to go now." she returned all her school supplies and her cell phone to her backpack, and stood.

"Bye, Kiba-kun." Hinata waved and strode away.

"Later," Kiba remained by the bench and watched her walk to Sakura's.

The distance was short. A few blocks later, Hinata was at the porch of Sakura's house. She pressed down the little white button, doorbell, and could hear a "_Ding, ding, ding, ding…" _and the sound of eager footsteps pounding down a staircase.

Sakura swung the door open with more force than necessary, startling Hinata. She had never seen her so amped up. Ino was standing behind Sakura, with an ear-to-ear smile.

Sakura's bright green eyes glittered with happiness, "shall we begin?"

* * *

Whoa, it's been loooong since I last updated. 

This chapter was boring. Boring and short. It'll get better, though. I have plans... I'm just a bit slow.

- jiao

PS;; it's 1:32 am. my lack of life is almost funny. well, time for bed.


	5. Chapter 5

Whoa, a lot of people have been asking about the NaruSaku. Later, friends. Though, this fic is primarily KibaHina. KibaHina was my original idea, then again… I've ditched a lot of other "original ideas". I will probably stick with the KibaHina, though. Just wait.

I'm actually really surprised I've been getting so many reviews. (Well, it feels like many to me)

* * *

**Chapter Fiiiiiiiiiiiive**

"How do I look?" Ino sang, spinning around like a model on a catwalk. She struck a dramatic pose, flipping her light blonde hair over her shoulder, and both Hinata and Sakura laughed.

"The shirt is _way_ too much," Sakura giggled. Ino frowned and tugged at the bottom of the metallic silver halter top she wore, seeing that it was sort of flashy.

"B-but those jeans are nice," said Hinata, referring to the tattered jeans hugging Ino's long legs.

Sakura leapt from her bed she and Hinata were sitting on and sped to her huge walk-in closet, chockfull of clothes and shoes. The night before, she had also asked her two friends if they could pitch in some of their best clothes, so it would be "like a potluck of clothes!", as she had so creatively put it.

"Try this!" she had a hanger with a baby blue top dangling from the wire, "It_ so_ matches your eyes!"

"Well," Ino slid the top from Sakura's hands and held it to her front, turned it around so she could see it, and fingered the fabric. Following her examination, down to the sequins at the end of the 3 quarter length sleeves, she declared "I think that would look better on Hinata!"

Having heard her name spoken, Hinata directed her drifting thoughts back to the moment, where she and her friends were trying to decide what to wear.

"Huh?" One lucky guess what she had been thinking of.

"This top. You like it?" Ino held the top higher in the air as an emphasis.

"Y-yes. It's pretty," the sequins were an adorable touch, and she fancied the swirly white design on the front.

"It would look ger-ate on you!" Ino chirped. Hinata took a second, longer glance at the blue shirt, and imagined it on herself, "You should try it on."

Hinata had no chance to protest as Ino shoved the wire hanger into her hands. She didn't want to disappoint Ino, either, who was so thrilled about this shirt. So she stepped into the closet and changed.

Ino was right, it did look ger-ate. The blue shirt was made of a soft fabric that exposed some of Hinata's shoulders and accented each of her curves. She did like it a lot.

Hinata didn't say anything when she appeared in the room again. Only smiled nervously, pinching and unpinching the side of the skirt, uncertain of what they would think.

Ino pursed her lips. She left the bed and circled Hinata like a vulture. Then she stood in front of her friend and smiled enormously.

"Gorgeous!" she squealed, pinching her cheeks with her hands.

"Wow," Sakura was amazed. She got up too and paused next to Ino, "It really does look good." Again with the nonexistant goatee stroking.

Hinata smiled again, this time with relief.

"Thanks," she mumbled shyly.

"Now that we're working on _your_ ensemble let's find some cute bottoms for you to wear." Sakura told Hinata.

Hinata began walking back to the closet, when she heard Ino. "Where are you going, Hinata?"

She stammered. "I-I was going to ch-change b-back into my sh-shirt," Had she done something wrong?

"Don't, we need to see how the bottom we pick will look on you with that shirt," Ino stated calmly.

"O-oh," Hinata sat down on the bed and watched Ino and Sakura rummage through the closet.

"How about this?" there was a knee-length white skirt in Sakura's hands a few minutes later.

"Or this?" Ino held a pair of dark jeans, faded here and there. The two girls glared at each other, then grinned at their friend, who was playing with her fingers.

"Mmm, I-I'll try the skirt," Hinata thought the white in the skirt and the white on the shirt would make a pair.

She shuffled into the closet and stripped of her pants, slipping into the skirt Sakura had chosen. Good choice. Not too tight and not too billowy. It was just the right length, too.

Again, Ino and Sakura were surprised at how great it looked.

"Yep," Sakura confirmed, "Wear that outfit."

Ino nodded and made a short "Mhmm" noise in agreement.

Hinata stared at her image in the full-length mirror on Sakura's wall. She had to admit, those girls were excellent at putting together outfits.

"Your turn, Sakura!" Ino pushed the pink-haired girl onto the bed, grabbed Hinata's hand, and started hunting.

"No pink shirts..." muttured Ino, mostly to herself. "That would overemphasize the hair. Maybe something green... perhaps blue... purple would look nice..." she continued mutturing to herself, flipping past each hanger, inspecting the clothes, all like a professional.

"I-Ino, would th-this work?" Hinata, being nowhere near the clothes expert Ino was, asked for approval on the white peasant top she had chosen, which was actually hers.

"We can always try," Ino and Hinata jumped out of the closet with the hanger.

Ino shook the hanger in Sakura's face enthusiastically. "How's this?"

"I'll try it on," Sakura said.

She took the hanger and the doorbell rang.

"Who could that be?" Sakura put down the hanger and left her room, motioning for the other girls to follow.

They descended the stairs (Sakura riding the handrail) to get to the source of impatient doorbell ringing.

"Coming!" Sakura called and hopped off, Ino approaching behind her with Hinata as the caboose. She opened the door to see none other than…

Naruto. [[Oh boy .

"Naruto," she acknowledged. "Why are you here?"

"Hey, Sakura, I came by to –" his gaze fell on Ino, "What is Ino wearing?"

Sakura remembered Ino hadn't taken off the flashy metallic top.

"Nothing…important," Sakura added quickly yet casually.

Hinata came into view.

"Wow, Hinata, you look great!" Naruto seemed to forget why he had "come by". Hinata's face gained a pinkish tint as she felt his blue eyes staring. She held her hands in front of her body, tapping her fingers together. One or two seconds of silence passed.

"Why are you here?" Sakura repeated.

"I just got your email and wondered if you wanted me to bring anything," Hinata thought she saw him wink, though it passed too fast and was hard to tell.

"I'm busy now, if you can't see. I'll call you later." The door slammed in Naruto's face.

"Bye Sakura!" he yelled from the other side of the door.

Sakura smiled dreamily. Only Hinata recognized it, because it was the same way she had smiled at Naruto before.

* * *

Suffixes are annoying. I wrote half the chapter forgetting about them (it's been that long), so once I noticed what the names were missing, I just decided to leave 'em that way. It's not like anybody would forget who I was talking about without the suffixes. 

I think its sort of obnoxious when people overdescribe clothes.

Short again;; I'm lazy. It'll heat up soon, I promise (again). Like I said, I have my plans. Strategy, I tell you!

- jiao


	6. Chapter 6

Longer(ish) chapter, because I felt like it. Plus, it's just been awhile.

Hokai, sho heer yew go. (okay, so here you go)

Ahh, almost fogot;; I don't own.

* * *

**Chapter sixxx**

"Did you check the cabinet?"

"Yes."

"What about that drawer?"

"Which one?"

"Second from the top. You used to keep stuff in there, right?"

"Used to."

Hanabi put her hands on her hips and gave her sister an exasperated sigh. "Then I don't know where to look. Maybe you lost it?"

Lost it. Ha. That was pretty funny. Hinata shook her head. No, she did _not_ lose it. She couldn't have.

"I'm sure you can just as well live without it." Hanabi tried to comfort Hinata. "Why is it so important, anyway?"

Hinata froze. Hanabi was right. Why _was_ it so important? Saying "Because it'll match my outfit tonight, and I want to look pretty for Naruto." would be silly, so Hinata went for the next best truth.

"B-because it belonged t-to mom,"

It was Hanabi's turn to freeze. Hinata never talked about their mother anymore. Neither of them did, for that matter. She had disappeared when they were both very young. Hanabi studied her elder sister, who was desperately searching one of the drawers.

Hinata was dressed and Kiba was due to pick her up in 5 minutes. They would walk to the restaurant; it wasn't _too_ far away when they knew where they were going; they had a map. Hinata even had Hanabi help with her hair and makeup. Nothing too elaborate. There was a little blue clip in her hair, that had been pulled back, and an inconspicuous amount of lipgloss on her lips, that were tightened with determination to find what she was missing.

"Oh… ok. I guess I can help you look some more,"

Hinata was down to the bottom drawer. The last reasonable place it could be. She got on her knees and shuffled through all these old things she put in that drawer because they wouldn't go anywhere else. Dry pens, notes, one or two really old books, socks, little boxes…sometimes she wondered why she didn't just throw that stuff away.

A contrast from the white of paper and socks caught her eye. There it was! "Found it!" she exclaimed, and plucked it from the corner of the drawer.

"Did you?" As if Hanabi felt she had to make sure her sister knew what she was talking about, she walked over to where Hinata was kneeling.

There was a small brown envelope in Hinata's pale hands.

"See?"

She opened the envelope and poured the contents into her palm. A silver bracelet with a few heart-shaped pieces of turquoise suspending from the metal like teardrops.

"Let me put it on for you," Hanabi gently fastened the bracelet around Hinata's delicate wrist.

"Th-thanks for your help, Hanabi," when she smiled at her younger sister, Hinata caught a glimpse of the clock. Almost 5:30. Kiba would be arriving soon.

"I'm going downstairs," Hinata grabbed her purse and strolled out of her room without waiting for Hanabi to catch up.

Kiba knocked instead of ringing the doorbell. They planned this. Ringing the doorbell would attract attention from Hiashi, as usual, locked away in his office.

The first thing the brown-haired boy did when Hinata opened the door was ask if she had the directions.

"O-of course I do, K-Kiba," she pulled the sheet of paper from her purse as proof, and slid it into his open hands as further proof.

Smirking, he stepped to the side so Hinata could pass and closed the door behind them.

"You look nice," holding the paper in front of her, he watched a small redness spread across her cheeks. He wondered why she blushed all the time…

"Y-you too," she returned the compliment, while she hadn't really taken the time to look at him. It was nothing special. Though, in the light of high sunset combined with the crimson on his shirt, Kiba's hair adopted a reddish tint. Hinata liked that. And the way it moved in the soft breeze…

She held the paper in front of herself and started re-scanning it.

"Doesn't seem very far away," Hinata flinched. BAM! Kiba was standing – really – close behind her, peeking over her shoulder. He reached his arm around her body and thrust his finger onto a spot on the map. "We're here, right?"

Hinata was blushing again. Did he always have to get so close to her? She was probably just going insane…

"U-um, no, a-actually. W-we're _here_. B-but you w-were close." avoiding the strange urge to reposition his hand herself, she used her own hand to point out their definite location, which was an inch away.

"Okay," he moved to her side, "Where to now?"

"G-go straight from here, th-then turn here, at K-Konoha Avenue…" Hinata's sky-blue nails traced their path.

"Easy enough," Kiba declared. He began to strut down the block, Hinata trying to catch up.

"Konoha _Avenue_?" he suddenly asked after a few minutes of leading the way.

"Mmhmm." Hinata nodded, "Why?"

"That's way into the city… like, 17 blocks from here," they had probably walked two or three so far. Hinata looked back down at the map. Sakura wasn't very good at drawing the proportions.

"O-Oh," maybe this would've been a good time to ask her cousin for a ride, if she hadn't been afraid he'd tell Hiashi, "W-Well Sakura did s-say that th-this restaurant was o-opening _downtown. _Should w-we walk faster?"

"RACE YOU!" Kiba shouted, and shot full speed over the vacant sidewalk, leaving Hinata and her high heels to sit in his dust. She rolled her eyes and stuffed the map back into her purse.

A warm smile spread across Hinata's face when she watched Kiba sprinting away. The smile became a giggle and soon she was laughing and running along with him. 'It's nice running like this,' Hinata thought serenely. The strong wind all around helped her feel so weightless and relaxed. She loved how it made her hair flow across her face and her skirt tickle her knees.

Although, as she ran she still couldn't escape the thoughts at the back of her mind …there was something about Kiba's jubilant attitude and energy. Something that reminded Hinata of a certain blonde boy. As she continued to jog after him, she found herself comparing the two similarly lively people. They were loud, proud and confident, but each in their own ways. Naruto always seemed to be more fun and childish, and less serious than Kiba, where Kiba was very outspoken and stubborn. Yet…if she liked Naruto for the couple traits Kiba also had, could she have the potential for liking Kiba?

Hinata stopped to catch her breath at an intersection. She was able to see the puppy-like boy standing a block away, waving. As soon as a yellow car passed before her, she scurried across the road to get back to him.

Kiba leaned against a sign on the corner that read "Konoha Avenue".

"Here we are," he said very matter-of-factly, arms crossed.

"Finally," Hinata looked around. They were definitely downtown, cars and people everywhere. Well, it was a beautiful Saturday evening.

"Now what?"

Hinata reached for the map in her purse.

It was gone.

"It must've fallen out when I was running," she whispered to herself. She combed through her purse, but no luck. And even if she _could_ remember where it had fallen, the wind would've blown it far away by then. How stupid of her. And what would Kiba think? In some way, she hoped he wouldn't think anything bad of her now.

"Shit," she hissed aloud.

"Hmm?" Kiba's (pretty wide-eyed) gaze locked on hers and Hinata involuntarily gulped.

"I-I th-think I-I lost th-the map, wh-when I w-was running a-an –" she fiddled with the little hearts on her bracelet and tried not to make eye contact.

"No problem. We can just ask someone here for directions," he said calmly. He could tell Hinata was really stressed at that moment, so he wouldn't come down on her. He never could. Kiba had been friends with her long enough to know how fragile the Hyuga could be.

"U-um, ok, I-I'm going t-to call Sakura, t-to let her know w-we're running late…" Hinata mumbled, taking out her cell-phone (which she did have, luckily) and dialing the numbers.

"Alright then, I'll go ask a few people if they know how to get to this place," Kiba scanned the premises, then pointed at a bench, "go ahead and sit there to call Sakura, it can be our meeting place."

And Kiba was off.

* * *

Ha. Ha ha ha ha. Yay for chapters. 

K, so I'm still working this whole story thing out. Told you, plans and strategies.

I'd enjoy reviews, thankyouverymuch.

- jiao


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you for the reviews I got. And super thank you to **dustori **for the supportive reviews on each chapter. I played off your "little boy" theory about Sakura (which is pretty true now that I think about it) here. Ohhhh, and chapter 4 wasn't _exactly _a filler. It will come into play later. Heehee, I get giddy just thinking about it. But you'll all have to wait because I'm slow. :P

* * *

**Seven?**

They weren't there yet.

Sakura stabbed her pink straw into the glass of iced tea. Where could they be? 9 and a half minutes late meant a lot when you are this excited about something, when everyone knew you were this exited. When everyone knew you had a short temper and hard fist (Naruto had learned that lesson the hard way).

He was sitting next to the frustrated girl, observing her and her frustration. He thought if he tried to console her, she would beat him up or push him away and insist that she didn't need his help. But what he didn't know was that she liked that he showed he cared, a great deal more than she let on.

Her cell phone rang – a bubblegum pop ringtone – and she answered it with a fierce "What?"

"_S-Sakura?"_

"Is it Hinata?" asked Ino from where she sat on the other side of her friend. Sakura held up a finger and nodded.

"Where are you guys?"

"_K-Konoha Avenue, I l-lost the map so K-Kiba and I-I will b-be late…"_

"You already are," Sakura said sourly.

"_I-I'm so s-sorry, Sakura. R-Really…"_

"Just get here, ok?"

Hinata wished Sakura would at least have the courtesy to say goodbye. She sighed. Sakura must have been upset.

Kiba was returning! Hinata spotted him pushing past a throng of people – dramatic entrance, she assumed. He plopped down next to her on their meeting place. Right next to her, where he was practically sitting on the edge of her skirt. And if she tried to scoot over some, she would fall off the bench. She never tried to take up too much room.

"I asked a _bunch_ of people," he groaned, closing his eyes and tilting his head to the back of the bench. Hinata discovered how cute he looked with his eyes closed, "most of them didn't know what I was talking about. The few who _did_ tell me anything all said different things." He turned his head to look at Hinata. Their faces were so close…

"Then… W-What now?"

Kiba shrugged, his arm rubbing hers. "We can _try_ to find the restaurant. We can wait here for them to come by, if they come by this way. We can go back to Sakura's house and wait for them there. It's straight down the road so it's not like we'll get lost. You have any ideas?"

Hinata was really feeling awful. Now she _had_ to do something to make it up to Kiba for losing the map.

"Wh-Why don't we get something to eat," she blurted out in a quick stream. Immediately after she said it, she bit her lip. It was something she did when she wished she could turn back time and erase the things she'd say. What would Sakura think of her now?

"Good idea, Hinata." Kiba ruffled her dark hair, the same way he would touch Akamaru, his dog's, fur. Afterwards, he got off the bench and stretched obnoxiously. Hinata attempted to straighten out her skirt, face pinkish.

"I saw some stuff when I was running around, and we can choose from those," said Kiba. He turned around, glanced to the right, the left, and then surprised Hinata by twisting back to face Hinata and holding out his hand to her.

"Eh?" she stared at the outstretched fingers of his hand.

"There are loads of people here. Let's not lose each other," something in the way he said those words made him sound more sincere. Hinata noticed how he didn't grab her hand, either. He offered his, giving her the chance to say no.

Taking his hand, she let him pull her to her feet.

He smiled tenderly and received a small smile from Hinata in return. They shared a peaceful minute of silence.

That silence broke with Kiba clearing his throat rather awkwardly. "Most of them were this way," said he.

Hinata made that weird "Mmph" anime-style sound while nodding ((really, who does that?)) and they marched through the crowd, hand in hand.

"There are some noodle shops that way," Kiba used his free hand to point to the lower setting sun. "And an ice cream shop that way." He pointed to the darkest part of the sky.

"Ice cream?" Hinata giggled. She liked ice cream.

Grinning, Kiba lead her to the shop. They got in line, still holding hands.

"What would you like?" Hinata skimmed over the menu posted over their heads.

"Ch-chocolate cone, please,"

Kiba and Hinata stepped up to the counter.

"Two chocolate cones," proclaimed Kiba. He paid for both.

"Thank you K-Kiba, but y-you really didn't have t-to pay for me," Hinata licked the sphere of chocolate ice cream.

Kiba just smiled.

He and Hinata walked aimlessly and ate slowly. Their fingers were entwined the whole time, as if neither of them seemed to notice, much less care.

However, Hinata did in fact think and care about how others saw of her. She wanted people to accept her the way her father wouldn't. She needed the support from others that she couldn't get from her family… or from herself.

Kiba truly gave no damn. He had enough obstinacy to defy an old mule, and enough self-confidence to defy the rest of the world. Typically, it was Hinata he worried about. The young girl wouldn't open her mouth and stand up for herself. He suspected it was because she was afraid of saying something wrong and being punished, or saying something right, getting the spotlight shown on her, and making a mistake while everyone was watching.

Whichever way, he hated seeing how she would let people walk all over her, or speaking for her, or tease her since they knew she wouldn't bite back. Deep inside, it bugged him to no end but every time he would try to help her, she refused and told him she didn't want to be a burden. She always felt weak. She was strong, he was sure of it. She just couldn't find how to show everyone else.

When they heard it, they had walked a long period, turning here and stopping there, and finished their ice cream. They didn't speak throughout. They enjoyed the tranquil air around them. It was almost surreal.

Hinata forgot to call Sakura back.

Kiba forgot to release Hinata's hand.

Then it woke them up, shook them out of their little world of quiet and comfort.

"Hinata! Kiba!"

The two swiveled around to see Ino smiling and waving, with a small group of people behind her. Hinata could spot Sakura in that group. She let go of Kiba's hand and rushed to Sakura to apologize.

"S-Sakura, I am r-really sorry and I-I would've called y-you again b-but –"

"It's ok Hinata," Sakura interuppted tiredly.

"I-is there anything y-you would want m-me to do t-to make it u-up to you?" Hinata felt like she had totally let Sakura down. And she had, hadn't she?

"Don't be so late, call when you are?"

"F-Fair enough,"

Among the group, Hinata distinguished Naruto first. His neon orange shirt was easiest to see in the twilight. Then came the fushia sparkles off Ino's necklace, Nara Shikamaru's weird high ponytail thing, Akimichi Choji's size, and Aburame Shino becuase of the contrast from his black sunglasses on his pale face. Sasuke was probably too cool to come. His loss.

Hinata played a game with herself: guess why everyone was there. They were all in the same circle of friends, for one. Naruto and Ino came for Sakura; Shikamaru was probably forced to come by Ino. They were dating and Ino thought he should "ditch the board games and have some real fun". Choji probably came for the food – or because he was Shikamaru's good friend – and Shino… Hinata didn't really know why Shino came.

Shino was about as detached as Sasuke, but friendlier. Sometimes. It was hard to tell. His wardrobe was probably chockfull of Ozzy-Osbourne-esque (round) sunglasses and bulky jackets. That evening, he had an abnormally large grey jacket. He was one of Kiba's closer friends, so maybe that was the reason he showed up.

The group of eight walked back to Sakura's house together. They were mostly quiet, Naruto speaking up once or twice to tell a bad joke.

"He's been doing that all evening," Sakura whispered to Hinata. Hinata chuckled.

"Have not!" Naruto put his hands on his hips and stuck his tongue out at Sakura immaturely. If there were any people left in the streets and sidewalks, they would be tsk-ing and shaking their heads at Naruto's immaturity.

"Have so and you know it!" Sakura retorted. She mimicked his actions perfectly.

Hinata smiled sadly, and was relieved nobody could see it in the dim light. Those two were just like children. Happy, children. And Hinata wanted her friend to be happy. After all, she had already disappointed Sakura once. She didn't want to do it again.

"Alright guys, we're here!" Sakura announced loudly, spreading her arms in a theatrical way, "Follow me!"

* * *

Whoa this chapter was pretty long, compared to some others. The next one will be when the ((romance of the)) story really gets going. Thoooough, there was stuff going on between Hinata and Kiba in this one. ; ) 

Why do they all end with Sakura and her house? The world may never know.

I already wrote out a few other scenes and I know exactly where they'll go, but the hard part is getting there. Which I _am _doing, though. Slowly but surely!

I am rooting for reviews, mainly because it's a boring summer and I like getting email.

- jiao


	8. Chapter 8

Here I am again!

When I was originally writing this (which was immediately after I posted last chapter), it actually stretched into 3,660 or so words and I thought of how annoying it is when chapters are so long. I don't know about you, but I always zone out halfway through in a superlong story...even a superlong paragraph. So many words at once, I can't handle it! And what's the point of posting if nobody can stay awake long enough to read? So I divided the work I did into 2 chapters, though it was originally one.

Also, thanks for the reviews I got.

Don't own.

**

* * *

Chapter 8 (shall I say part one?) **Hinata's eyebrows shot up behind her thick bangs. 

Sakura's house was beyond clean. Hinata had only been in her room and up and down the stairs. Past the stairs and down a hallway, where Sakura was escorting the group, there was a tidy living room, spotless kitchen… it was all blank and white and smelled a little like lemons.

"Help yourself, Choji." She rolled her eyes at the red-haired boy who was grabbing a bag of potato chips off the unsoiled counter.

"S-Sakura, it's really… um… c-clean in here. W-won't your parents get mad if we mess it u-up?"

Hinata seemed to be the only person concerned.

"They sure would." Sakura agreed. She smirked. "Furious. But we're not going to."

"Then wh-where –" she was always afraid something chaotic would happen.

"Just wait," there was a small trace of annoyance in Sakura's voice. Hinata sensed it and bit her lip.

Sakura showed them out the back door to a small backyard. She lead them up a steel ladder that came out at a flat spot above the garage. There was a picnic table and a window by the side of the house, and she mounted the table and used the window as a second step up to get higher. Then she gripped the edge of the gutter and scraped her white tennis shoes against the brick wall. Finally, she rolled onto the roof and stood.

"Ta-da!"

Everybody stared at her, as if climbing up onto the roof had attracted aliens with multiple heads that were going to eat them all. Naruto even took a wary step back.

"C'mon! I've done this a million times! The roof isn't even that slanted," she jumped around to confirm her statement. "The hardest part is getting _up_ here. And if you fall – which you won't!" she added, bringing her hand to her mouth like she was taken aback at the very idea, " there are bushes on either side to break your landing."

Ino grinned mischievously and jumped onto the table, stuck her foot in the window, clutched the edge of the gutter, and clambered onto the roof after Sakura.

Shikamaru folded his arms across his chest and sighed heavily. "Can't you just stay down here? You girls are so troublesome…"

Naruto came up next, snickering all the way. While standing in the window, he started wobbling. His arms thrashed wildly and he screamed and cursed, his performance far over the top.

Hinata's heart lurched when she saw Sakura lean down and seize his hand. And his other hand. She dragged him up and a strong surge of jealousy swept over Hinata. Suddenly, she had to be up there with them, with him.

So she set her purse on the table and joined the three already on the roof. What's more, she had absolutely no trouble getting to the top. It was quite easy. Hinata questioned if Naruto only executed that little dilemma so Sakura would be able to grab his hands and "pull him to safety".

She cleared her mind of the thought at once, as Kiba followed her up with the same athletic smoothness, and after him came Shino. Hinata couldn't even tell if he wanted to or not, but he was up anyway.

Hinata sat down and admired the scenery. It was a cool, clear night. She liked to think that the wind in the air had pushed all the clouds away all from them for them, so they could see the shining stars and crescent moon.

"Just you and Choji," Ino cupped her hands around her mouth to highlight the distance between her and Shikamaru. He shook his head stubbornly and sat on a lawn chair, stargazing.

"Hey, Choji, there's more food up here!" Choji, who had already eaten half the bag of potato chips, turned his attention to Sakura.

The pink-haired girl was walking over to the far side of the roof by the chimney. Near the edge, there was a trapdoor under the shingles.

"You keep stuff on the roof?" Naruto seemed amazed and impressed.

"Yeah, I told you. I go up here all the time," Sakura dug around the hole in the roof to pull out a bag of chips, "Most of the food I have up here is crap like junk food."

Hinata was intrigued by the way the trapdoor blended in so well with the actual roof.

"How did you get that up here?" Kiba asked, as if he had been reading her thoughts.

"It's always been here. I think the people who had this house before us installed it. My parents don't know about it, though,"

She opened her mouth to say something more, but was stopped by Ino.

"Welcome up, Choji!" Ino was still sitting at the other side of the roof with her legs dangling over the rim, swinging back and forth. The denim on her jeans flapped. She glared at Shikamaru. "_C'mon_," she stretched the last syllable with a whiney tone.

"For me?" Though she had batted her eyelids one time too many and her voice was over-coated with sugar, Shikamaru sighed and stood up.

After getting up onto the roof – and taking his sweet time at that – Ino beamed and gave him a cute peck on the cheek.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Shikamaru grunted and looked away. Safe bet he was blushing. Hinata giggled at them.

Sakura delivered the fresh bag of chips to Choji, then skipped back to her "Secret Compartment" in the roof. Hinata analyzed at her pink tennis shoes. Were there magnets in the soles? Was the roof made out of metal? Or maybe her shoes had suction cups on them. She waked around with such incredible ease, whilst Hinata was afraid to stand up. Especially in the dark.

She took a deep breath and carefully rose to her feet. Right when she was standing steadily, loud music started playing, coming from Sakura's direction.

Hinata felt herself losing her footing, the music had surprised her. She purposely fell back into a sitting position so she wouldn't look stupid flailing her arms around and falling off the roof. Maybe she could crawl around on the shingles all night….

Scratch that.

"Hey, guys! Come over here!" Sakura called over the music. She must keep a boom box up there, too. With no consideration to the neighbors. Hinata smiled at the thought of Sakura dancing on her roof to the earsplitting music playing. That had to be fun. To be in Sakura's place, for sure, free to do whatever without any worries. Hakuna Matata all the way.

Hinata tried standing up again, more familiar with the pounding music, and walked with her arms out spread wide, like she was a tight-rope walker over the ocean.

The eight sat in a circle by the chimney. Hinata silently wondered why Kiba chose to sit next to her.

"Have it, Shino?" Sakura asked, her tone of voice 100 percent "nudge-nudge-wink-wink-eh"?

Shino sighed and was probably rolling his eyes.

From the folds of his extremely large jacket, he pulled two short bottles of… sake.

It wasn't much of a shock to Hinata. She knew it would happen, saw it coming from a mile away. She was pretty glad, though, that Shino had only brought two.

"Hmm…" Sakura tapped her finger over her nonexistent goatee and said quietly, "Looks like we're gonna have to share." Then she shrugged and stashed the bottles in her Secret Compartment so they wouldn't fall into the bushes.

"What now?" Ino asked, leaning forward onto her hands.

Sakura's shrugged again and smiled calmly. "Dunno. Guess I was so excited I didn't really plan anything."

"Then can I suggest something?"

"It's either truth-or-dare or spin-the-bottle, I swear," whispered Shikamaru to Choji.

Ino pouted. "Is there something _you'd_ rather do?"

This time it was Shikamaru who shrugged. Choji not-so-quietly chomped down on another potato chip.

"Then which one do you guys prefer?" Ino asked the rest of the group, as though everybody had heard Shikamaru's comment.

"Let's have a vote!" Naruto punched the sky with much gusto.

"I was supposed to say that!" Sakura punched Naruto with even more gusto. "Let's have a vote!" she repeated louder and more defined, her fist reaching an inch farther than Naruto's had.

"All for truth-or-dare," all the boys plus Sakura had their hands high into the night air. Hinata was just confused. She sort of wanted to play truth-or-dare, because that was what Naruto wanted, but she sort of wanted to get a chance to kiss him by playing spin the bottle. What's more, she didn't know what people would make her say or do in truth-or-dare.

"C'mon, the night's still young," protested Ino, "We can play both, can't we?"

First Sakura glanced up into the stars, like she was trying to prove that the night wasn't as young anymore. Then she laughed and nodded.

"Cool. Hey, guess what!" she turned around and pulled the bottle of sake back from her "Secret Compartment". "One for each game? Maybe we'll have extra!"

"Truth-or-dare it is!" Naruto declared.

The entire time, Hinata was looking around the circle, studying everyone's reactions. Naruto was clearly stimulated by this activity of choosing activities. Shikamaru looked bored. Then again, Shikamaru always looked bored. Choji was eating. Shino was unsurprisingly unreadable. And when she got to Kiba… she didn't get to see. When she had looked over at him, he had been looking at her the same time. Hinata had pried her eyes away within a second.

"Oh! Rules." Sakura said abruptly.

"Rules?" asked Naruto.

Sakura sighed. "Rule number one… keep it close here. Nobody jump off the roof." Easy enough. "Rule number two…whoever is first will choose what the dare or truth will be, after they say the question or dare they wait 2 people before doing another. Rule number three… this is confidential, whatever we say, if we say anything interesting," she stopped, "Um… that's all I got. Anybody else have any ideas?"

They were all was silent. It was only truth-or-dare, not much left to cover.

"Kay, then who wants to start?"

Nobody spoke. Hinata presumed Sakura would want to go first.

"How'bout you, Hinata?" Sakura's bright voice had totally caught Hinata off guard.

"M-Me?"

"Yeah. You've hardly said anything all evening. Now, truth or dare?"

* * *

So there's part one. 

FYI, I have never had sake or anything... and you have to keep in mind they're only teenagers who just want to have fun & do whatever.

- jiao !


	9. Chapter 9

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter...well, "part". I hope you'll have as much fun reading it.

* * *

**Part two (or chapter 9?)**

Hinata actually started listening to the music, hoping that the lyrics would tell her the answer so she wouldn't have to choose between truth or dare. But no. The male singer was screaming about pain and blood. How did that help? When did Sakura start liking this kind of music? Why did it matter?

"Dare," she cried quickly, then nibbled her lip and twisted her fingers around themselves over and over again.

"Here," Sakura shoved the sake bottle into Hinata's tangled hands. "I dare you to take two sips. You need to loosen up some."

Hinata didn't know if she should've thanked Sakura or not (most likely not) but she took the bottle anyway. After all, it was a dare. And she promised herself drinking was a one time thing until she was old enough to do it legally.

She inhaled deeply and put her lips to the bottle. Then she took one small sip of the lukewarm liquid, and swallowed. She lowered the bottle and took another short sip. Both combined couldn't amount to half a mouthful. The sake tasted weird. Hinata had never had alcohol prior to this so she didn't know what to compare it to. All she knew was that it was dry in her mouth, rough down her throat, and left a bizarre aftertaste on her tongue.

"Who's next?" Sakura shot Hinata a kind glance, sort of like she was trying to say sorry.

Kiba sat on the left of Hinata, Ino sat on the right.

"I'll go," Ino volunteered. "Truth."

Naruto raised his hand, "Ino, have you and Shikamaru ever… you know…done it...?"

The question wasn't even directed at Hinata, yet she still blushed at Naruto talking about sex.

Ino made a breathy "Pffftshaw" sound and Shikamaru snorted.

"No. No way. Way to use your question wisely. Go, Sakura."

Sakura grinned.

"Truth or dare?" Ino asked.

"Truth,"

"Who do you like more, Naruto or Sasuke?" everybody – except Hinata, who already knew the answer - thought this was also a dumb question, that Sakura would say Sasuke. Thusly, Hinata was the only one whose jaw didn't fall to the roof when Sakura said:

"Naruto."

"Aww, really?" Naruto said in a sing-song voice, his hand on his heart. Though Hinata could tell he was as surprised as the rest of them – minus Hinata.

"Truth or dare." Sakura dead-panned. She didn't even smack him that time.

"Dare." Naruto held his head up proudly.

"I dare you to eat this bug," said a low voice. It was the first time Shino spoke. There was a pea-sized black beetle on the tip of his finger..

"Eeew! Can't I have some sake with that?" Naruto's blue eyes bugged (lolpun) out of his head.

"Nope.," By the way Shino's forehead crinkled over his sunglasses and high-collared jacket, Hinata could tell he was enjoying himself. "Eat it or I'll find a _bigger_ one,"

Hinata giggled as Naruto reluctantly plucked the beetle from Shino's finger – both pinky and upper lip thrust upward – and threw it in his mouth, chomped down, and swallowed.

"EEEWWW," he squealed. Shino's forehead crinkled again, showing he was satisfied.

"Shikamaru," Sakura acted like the blonde sitting next to her and rubbing his tongue with his shirt didn't exist, "Truth or dare."

"This game is so troublesome," Shikamaru muttered.

"You know you're having fun watching Naruto eat bugs," Ino teased.

Shikamaru smiled for a second. "Truth," No way were they making him _do_ anything stupid. Emphasis on DO.

"How do you make your hair stand up like that?" asked Kiba, grinning. Shikamaru glared at the brunet, like Kiba already knew the answer and wanted everybody else to, too.

"Iusemymomshairgel," he murmured. Kiba was laughing quietly.

"What was that, Shikamaru?" Kiba held a hand to his ear.

"I use my mom's _hair gel_,"

While Sakura stifled her giggles with her hand, Ino went all out and laughed as loud as she could. She _cackled_, her voice competing with the music everybody forgot was there.

And they had all thought Shikamaru was lazy.

"How… how does…that work…now?" Ino's speech was severed by her undying "ha's" and "hee's".

"It's actually really easy. All I have to do is run it through my hair in the morning, so it stays out of my face all day. Then it just comes out when I shower," he described it the same way one would describe brushing their teeth.

"Ahh...I see" Ino was still laughing.

"Choji, your turn. Truth or dare,"

Mouth full, he said "Dare,"

"I dare you to stop eating those chips!" Ino and Sakura said at once. "And put them in the middle so we can all have some." Ino put in.

"Fine," he grumbled, pushing the bag to the center.

"Yesss!" Ino cheered and darted forward to snatch a handful. Choji had left less than a quarter of the bag and Ino had to use all her willpower not to call him a fattie. He was remarkably sensitive on that subject.

"Shino, go."

"Truth," he knew if he chose dare somebody would ask him to take off his sunglasses.

"What color are your eyes?" asked Hinata unexpectedly. Everyone looked at her, she hadn't stuttered, wondering if the alcohol was taking effect. Perhaps it was. But at that moment she was only curious.

"Green," Shino said slowly.

"Oh," Hinata half-smiled, as if in deep thought.

"Kiba,"

Hinata snapped out of "deep thought" when she heard Kiba's name.

"Dare," he didn't really care what they would make him do.

"Your turn, two sips, I dare you," Sakura passed the sake bottle to Kiba. She just wanted to use it up and destroy the evidence.

It felt weird for Hinata to see Kiba drinking out of the same thing she drank out of once. He drank it calmly. He probably already had sake, courtesy of his older sister Hana or his rowdy mother Tsume.

"Back to you, Hinata,"

The 8 played truth or dare for a while longer. Up until nobody had any good questions or dares left, and the game was reduced to:

"I…hmm… I dare you not to smell like soap,"

"What kid of dare is that? Are you telling me not to take showers?!"

"No, I said you smell like stale soap and it's annoying,"

"Why are you smelling me, anyway?"

"It's hard not to. Anybody could smell you, from a mile away,"

"Hmph. How do you even expect me to stop smelling like soap?"

"Uhh…"

"At least I use soap!" … that argument went on and on. In the end, they just skipped it and went to the subsequent person.

And: "Who would you rather? Naruto or Sasuke?"

"You already asked me that question!"

"Oh, whoops."

That was when they unanimously decided to start playing spin the bottle.

"Think we should go inside?" asked Ino while Sakura pulled out the second sake bottle to spin in spin-the-bottle. "It's getting really dark out, and kind of cold." She rubbed her bare arms as a sharp gust of wind slapped them all.

"I want to be inside for as short as I can," said Sakura, shamelessly taking a swig of the sake. "My parents are total neat freaks and if there's ever one thing out of place they spaz out."

"Well, _I _promise to be clean," she lifted her right hand like she was taking an oath

"Me too!" Naruto yelled, "My butt hurts from sitting."

"If you guys all wanna go inside we can do that now. As long as nobody messes anything up."

All 8 nodded.

Sakura turned off the music, took the bottle, and stood, everyone else following her. It was a very quiet night, and Hinata found the sudden silence calming.

They jumped off the side of the roof and onto the picnic table, then went back inside Sakura's lemon-scented house. It was a lot warmer. Hinata hadn't been paying attention to the temperature outside, but whatever it was, the temperature inside was more comfortable.

"We can all sit here," announced Sakura, setting the bottle of sake down. There was a huge blank space in front of the television.

Hinata lowered herself onto the cream-colored carpet, and each person took sat in the same places as they had on the roof.

"Who wants to go first this time?" Apparently spin the bottle didn't need rules.

"I will!" Ino grabbed the bottle from the middle of the circle, and spun it passionately.

What a coincidence.

It landed on Shikamaru and Ino's smile spread wide.

"You tried, didn't you," Shikamaru was smirking.

Ino shrugged innocently. Then she moved around Naruto and Sakura and kissed Shikamaru's mouth.

"Hinata, you wanna go?" she asked when she got back to her seat.

"U-uh, sure," Hinata spun the bottle, watching it gyrate on the carpet.

And fate seemed to be smiling on all of them that night.

For it landed on Naruto.

Hinata's face was an explosion of red but Naruto didn't seem fazed at all when they started to lean forward.

And then their lips met.

Hinata's first kiss was finally given up to him. Naruto. Her fairytale come true. Yet, it didn't feel like it. No fireworks, no amazing sensations. Nothing but the warmth his lips on hers (which wasn't much). Hinata inspected his blue eyes, somewhat dissatisfied.

A mere second passed before they broke the kiss and sat back down. Everyone, even Sakura, was gazing at Hinata, as if expecting her to stand up and confess her love for Naruto. But she stayed seated and wiped at her mouth the slightest bit.

She didn't want to lie.

"Kiba, your turn," said Sakura, after a few extra moments. Kiba spun the sake bottle with a quick flick of his wrist. It continued to spin for what seemed like forever, blurring into a white circle. Finally, it slowed with the stout neck pointing at… Hinata.

The two just looked at each other, unsure of how to go by this "kissing" thing.

'Might as well get it over with', Kiba thought. He rested his hand on her shoulder, pulled her closer, and leaned in to let his lips fall on hers.

Wow.

No other word could pull together all that he was sensing. By far, he didn't expect Hinata's lips to feel so good. Great, even. If not for the six other people in the room, his arms would've wrapped around her waist or his tounge into her sweet mouth. His eyelids fell.

Hinata closed her eyes as Kiba's lips pressed against hers a little harder. Not that she minded. Her whole body felt warm and… nice. It was the same invigorating electricity running through her veins that she felt whenever they touched. Multiplied by infinity. The kiss was purely heaven.

It lasted a while, too. Kiba and Hinata could feel dumbfounded eyes, watching, staring. They pulled apart hastily and Hinata blushed harder than she ever had in her life. She looked up at the whirling ceiling fan, out the window into darkness, over to the plain sofa, anything to avoid eye contact with you-know-who.

Taking in a deep breath and feeling brave, she glanced at Kiba. Just a short glance, to see what he was doing.

He was looking at her. Her eyes met his again, though this time she didn't look away.

She couldn't.

* * *

_Fun Fact!: That one kissing scene between Hinata and Kiba is the idea behind this **whole** fic._ It was inspired by another fic I read once... but I forgot what that was called. 

Granted, it didn't even turn out as good... it had sounded better in my head. Oh, well. There you go.

Also, I have never had sake or anything.

I am going to be gone this week, Monday 13th through Saturday 18th. At camp!

Yep, so I left you guys with something nice to keep you entertained while I'm in Northern Minnesota learning Chinese. (:

- jiao (hartz yew all!)

PS:: btw about the review from **Dosko**, thank you and it should be interesting to know that I run the phrases through my head before writing them down, and think about what words people would stutter on. Just to let you know. Thanks for the review.


	10. Chapter 10

Not much to say...

Thanks to reviewers.

* * *

**Let's just call this chapter 10**

The rest of that night was a blur.

Not because of the sake. Hinata hadn't had much.

It was the kiss she shared with Kiba that had her body vibrating.

Sure, it was a stupid spin-the-bottle lip-brush, and sure it didn't last very long. And how could we forget there were people in the room at the time, pressuring with their eyes for the two to stop …

Despite all signs pointing to a bad kiss, Hinata had replayed it in her mind again and again. It was so strange to her. From the way his eyes dreamily shut to the way his lips tightly pushed against hers to the way he scarcely squeezed her shoulder before they pulled apart… everything. Everything she expected from Naruto. But as she continued to think about it and relive it, she began to want it to happen another time.

Hinata gazed at the cottage-cheese ceiling of her bedroom. She was pretty tired. They had stayed up all night and left 7 minutes after sunrise when Sakura's parents rolled into the driveway. While contemplating whether she should sleep or not, her phone rang.

She lazily turned over in her bed and answered it with a groggy voice.

"Hello?"

"_Hey, Hinata."_

"K-Kiba?" she cleared her throat, embarrassed. Memories of the kiss rushed through her mind.

"_One and only. You remember how you promised you would help me more on my homework?"_

"Y-yes," Even though she remembered she hadn't "promised", she _did_ say that she would.

"_Wanna, well, meet somewhere?"_

"Okay."

"_Any preferences?"_

"W-we can go to the park…"

"_Sounds good. See you in 10."_

"Bye."

"_Later."_

Sleep could wait. Besides, Hinata didn't think she would be able to sleep very peacefully with Kiba on her mind.

So she changed into something more comfortable – loose jeans and a loose t-shirt – and, assuming Kiba would have his math supplies, was on her way out when a high voice stopped her.

"Where are you going?"

Hinata turned. Hanabi was standing down the opposite hallway.

"I-I have to g-go to the park and help Kiba w-with his homework," said Hinata. She was a yard or two past her sister when Hanabi spoke up for a second time.

"Do you… _like_ him? I'm just wondering." Hanabi added.

Why did Hanabi always have to ask such difficult questions?

"Wh-what makes y-you wonder?"

"You two are always hanging out and stuff." she shrugged innocently.

"I… I don't know," Hinata softly replied, doubting her sister had heard, and left before Hanabi could say anything else.

The way to the park wasn't far. It was right next to the school, and Hinata could walk there in no time.

The sky was clouding up, Hinata took note of. Too many for finding elephants and fish, and not enough for finding rain. The midday sun cast a glow through the thick layer of clouds. There was light, though it didn't look like it came from anywhere in particular.

Kiba sat at one of the picnic tables on the grassy lawn, his dog Akamaru sniffing the base of a nearby tree. Akamaru was trained well enough to go without a leash. He had been with Kiba for practically all of both their lives.

Kiba waved at Hinata when he saw her approaching, and Akamaru let out a high-pitched bark.

"You brought Akamaru!" she ran to the little dog and stroked the short white fur on his back. In return, his tail wiggled and he licked her hands.

"Yep. I had to take him out anyway." Kiba found himself smirking Hinata's interaction with Akamaru.

She was always like that around any type of animal, especially the ones that were small, cute, and fluffy. Akamaru most definitely fell under the category of small, cute, and fluffy.

She gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, then sat at the table.

"Wh-what do you… need help w-with?" Hinata was unable to hold back a loud yawn.

"Can you look at this?" he pushed his notebook in front of her, over a faded stain of bird feces, "I did it when I was waiting."

There was a lot of writing on that one page. How long had he been waiting?

Hinata dismissed the matter and started inspecting his work

"These ones are ok…" she turned the next page, which was also covered in numbers and letters. Kiba wore a wide smile, evidently pleased with himself.

"Oh, Kiba," his smile faded and was switched with an expression of confusion as Hinata pointed to the supposed error. "I-It's x squared, not 2x." she giggled.

"Ahh," Kiba nodded like he totally understood what the difference was.

" (yaaaawn) X-x squared means x t-times itself, and 2x m-means x times 2." Hinata explained patiently.

"Got it." Kiba rewrote the problem, solved it, and showed it to Hinata once more.

"Better?" he asked.

"Much."

Hinata continued to check Kiba's homework in silence. Kiba searched the park (surprisingly empty, by the way) for some type of distraction. He already forgot how x squared did not equal 2x. Truthfully, math meant next to nothing to him. He couldn't identify why he had Hinata "tutor" him. Perhaps he enjoyed her company more than he admitted to himself…

"Kiba."

"Yeah?" he looked back to Hinata.

"Y-you got something wrong."

"'Kay," Kiba slid an inch closer to her, "Lay it on me."

Hinata smiled and set her finger on a long string of numbers.

"Y-You were missing a decimal point. See? R-right…" she suddenly stopped talking when she felt Kiba's hand fall on hers.

Their eyes met.

Their mouths moved closer.

They were like magnets, he was north and she was south.

Oh my God.

Hinata's initial impulse when Kiba touched her hand ever-so-gently was to stand up, maybe trip on something in the process, invent a rational excuse, and run. But she didn't. Somewhere inside, she resented the very idea. Somehow she could see… they were no longer "just friends". Maybe she didn't want them to be. She didn't even know why she tried to deny it anymore.

"…here…"

Hence, she let their lips meet in a soft kiss.

His hands were slow as they made their way from her hips to circle the small of her back. Hinata wanted more. Astonishing both of them, she parted her lips and tasted his tongue for the first time.

Kiba didn't know exactly what had lead up to their (second) kiss… he and Hinata were talking over math homework, yet she was so close, when she spoke he could scarcely feel her breath, he so loved the sound of her voice. And as his hand feathered over Hinata's – by accident, of course – something happened. He was about to apologize to her, when his dark eyes locked on Hinata's beautiful creamy ones. This feeling, "KISS HER. KISS HER. KISS HER. You know you want to." came over him, and he went with it. He was glad he did. So glad…

He knew she liked Naruto. He knew Naruto didn't return the feelings. He knew she knew Naruto didn't return the feelings. Ironically, thanks to the exuberant blonde boy, she was "morally against" giving up. Now and then, the pessimist in Kiba just wanted to tell her that it was ok to give up when you're never going to get there. When all you need is right in front of you all along, and there's no use wasting your time with something that's never going to come true.

More than anything, he knew he couldn't. It would probably shatter her.

Hinata toyed with the tips of Kiba's dark brown hair. It was stunningly soft. Then, out of nowhere, she to feel funny.

A yawn was rising in her throat.

How could it be that an action signifying tiredness woke Hinata up more than ever?

Her eyes snapped open and she ripped away from their kiss so hard it almost hurt.

Not needing to yawn anymore, she started to talk about math as if the kiss had never taken place, "S-So, th-the thing is, y-you misplaced the decimal point," she muttered, steering clear of eye contact, "Y-you'd do great i-if you'd pay more attention t-to the details."

"Hinata," Kiba whispered with something like caution in his tone.

"I-I b-better leave," she stuttered quietly. Shyly, she glanced into his eye, her expression saying "sorry". Then she stood and started walking away, giving Akamaru one last pat.

"Bye. Thanks," Kiba came to the conclusion that nothing hurt more than watching somebody leave.

"Um, Hinata?" Kiba called after her.

She stopped for a moment.

"Y-yes Kiba?" But she didn't turn around.

"Just to tell you… I'll always be here if _you_ ever need anything."

"O-ok. Bye."

Hinata couldn't stand being around him a second more. Once she turned the next corner, she broke into a steady jog.

* * *

Well that's done now. Sorry if it seemed kind of rushed. 

Review?

- jiao


	11. Chapter 11

Forget chapter "9", this was way more fun to write. Most of Hinata's emotions came straight from my experiences, so it was really easy to put everything into words.

Thnks fr th REVIEWS! (lol, silly me)

I do not own the "You Can't Rollerskate In A Buffalo Herd" lyrics. They belong to Roger Miller. Nor do I own the characters of Naruto. They belong to some guy with the initials of "MK". You sould know. (I totally forgot how to spell his name! DX )

* * *

**Chapter 11, because the preceding chapter was chapter 10**

Hinata slowed to a walk only half a block down.

Should she go back? Apologize?

She decided against it. That would make her seem worse than she already was by running away.

Part of her felt like she was "betraying" Naruto. It wasn't like she was cheating on him… he didn't even know she liked him or not, and doubtlessly never would. What was wrong with her?

It could be that she disliked the idea of giving up. She would be giving up on her crush, if that made any sense. Possibly that she didn't want to be a waste.

That was it. Right on the dot. She used up 3 years of her life caring about him, if she decided to throw it all away and move on, she would feel horrible about wasting so much time, time that she could have spent to make something out of her life. Failure. She wasn't ready for that.

Tenderly touching her lips, she relived the moment Kiba kissed her. Or was it she who kissed Kiba? She didn't know. She didn't care. Regardless of who kissed who first, it was great. The patches of skin Kiba had come in contact with were comfortably warm, like her cheeks when she was around…

"Hinataaaaa!"

Naruto.

If his amimated cry didn't instantaneously give him away, the sound of his eager pounding feet would.

He caught up to the dark-haired girl without any trouble.

"H-Hello Naruto," Hinata said quietly. The two began walking side by side.

"Hinata, I've been wondering…" his big blue eyes looked up at her, inquiring.

"G-go ahead," she answered.

"You're good friend with Sakura, am I right?"

Hinata nodded.

"And I was… I was thinking…"

Here we go.

"…about asking her out…"

Oh no.

"…maybe getting her something…"

Keep a straight face now.

"…what sort of stuff is she into?"

"Sh-she," Hinata's voice cracked, "sh-she likes cute things, p-puppies a-and flowers...y-you know..." she trailed off, hoping Naruto got the idea. What he got Sakura was hardly significant. As long as it was from him, Sakura would be happy. Hinata realized it. Keeping her mouth shut heightened her observational skills.

"Thanks Hinata! You're an awesome friend."

Friend. Buddy. Pal. Was that it?

"Y-you're w-welcome," she had a hard time keeping herself from crying. But she managed. She had to.

"Well, here's my stop," they stood at a T in the street. Hinata's house was to the left.

"Bye, Hinata!" she watched him go, marching down the right branch of road.

Was this what Kiba felt like when she had walked away from him? To watch someone leave, and know you can't follow because you care too much to keep them down with your existence. The situation basically leaving you alone, your friend contented. And people around you being happy as a result of something you did should be satisfying. To some.

Halfway to her house (from where Naruto parted), she disintegrated.

Deep tranquil breaths weren't working. Closing her eyes and counting to ten did nothing but make her see Naruto's face. No amount of thinking about a different subject would take her mind off anything, as somehow her thoughts lead her back to where she started – confused and heartbroken.

She glared up at the sky. It was laughing at her. Mocking her. So close to shedding tears, to raining, and never getting there. Was Hinata not good enough?

It started small, with uneven breathing and burning eyes. Then the tears fell. Slowly, one by one by one. Hinata squeezed her mouth shut, trying to stay as quiet as she could.

Almost never did Hinata cry. She sucked it up. It was her way of showing people she was strong. And it usually worked, although the symptom was making her feel emptier than ever.

This time she couldn't help it. Everything at once, crushing her, she needed to find a way for her troubles to find their way out. In this case, it was through her weeping.

The backyard of the Hyuga's house was 95(percent) garden and landscaping. Hinata made an old-fashioned swinging bench in the back corner of the yard her private retreat, and visited it regularly. She had to tend to the garden as her chores anyway, so why not spend her spare time there?

Something only she knew about resided under a tall shady tree. A metal box, painted brown for camouflage.

One of Hinata's methods for restraining her tears was to run away to the garden and write down her thoughts. Normally, they flooded out of her mind in the form of poetry (mostly freeverse), or other sorts of creative writing. Then she stored it in that brown-painted box, away from the rest of the world.

The box was filled with notebook paper, word after word, each one written for Naruto. Incredible how much emotion for one boy could be conjured up in 3 years.

She picked up one of the sheets of paper, silently reading the words to herself, _"…do you know / what your smile / does to my soul/ melt like / chocolate / because / I / love / you / and you should know / she / can't make me / lose / my faith in your / beauty / so keep that in mind for / the next time / you ignore me / and make me feel like / shit…"_

That was Hinata's personal favorite, written when she was in her jealous stage. She really didn't have the heart to throw any of her work out.

Salty tears had air-dried in no time (it was still windy), she was so engaged in reading she didn't feel like crying anymore. Neither did she notice when the gate to the garden clicked open, then closed, admitting somebody to her sanctuary.

"What's that?"

Hinata flinched at the sudden noise, she stuffed the paper she had been looking at back into the box, slammed the box shut, and flung it over her shoulder, hearing it land the bushes. (not to fear, the lid was magnetic) Yes, yes, yes. Toss it all behind you.

"N-Nothing im-"

The words caught in her throat when she saw who had spoken.

Kiba.

Hinata wanted to cry again.

"Um, Hinata, I came to see if you were ok…"

Truth. No excuses like "You left your pencil" or "I still don't understand this X squared and 2x deal". It made Hinata want to cry even more.

Kiba stepped a bit closer.

"Can I sit?"

"S-sure," Hinata felt the sway of the bench when Kiba laid his weight on it. It was soothing.

"Are you ok?" Kiba repeated. He took her hand, holding it loosely. Then he looked straight into her eyes.

And that was when Hinata cracked.

Tears. There was no use in trying to hold them back. She let them run.

Now, added to her list of worries was "What does Kiba think of me? I'm crying in front of him. He probably thinks I'm weak, or over-emotional, or whiny, or… or… or…"

The brunet boy did the first thing that came to his mind. He brought his hand up and draped it over her shoulder, drawing her sobbing body to his own accepting arms.

"Why?" she choked out, a soft whisper, "Why can't I just be happy?"

Hinata bit her lip. That absolutely counted as whininess, didn't it?

Kiba only smiled, like an old man remembering something wonderful from his childhood.

"There are always gonna be times in life where we aren't happy, and can't get what we want," he said wisely, "The thing is, if you want something, there's nothing stopping you from trying. And once you try you're a step closer." He hated how he sounded like a calendar, with clever yet clichéd quotes about life for each month. Nevertheless, Hinata needed to know.

What he did next… well, surprise would be an understatement.

He began to sing.

Loud.

"You can't roller-skate in a buffalo herd, you can't roller-skate in a buffalo herd, you can't roller-skate in a buffalo herd," he bent over, resting his head on hers, his mouth at her ear, "but you can be happy if you've a mind to."

Hinata, wonderfully cheerful, sniffed and laughed at the same time, producing more of a snort.

Kiba was delighted to have made Hinata giggle. So delighted, in fact...

"Verse two! You can't take a shower in a parakeet cage, you can't take a shower in a parakeet cage, you can't take a shower in a parakeet caaaaaaaaaaaage…"

Totally laughing, Hinata joined in.

"But you can be happy if you've a mind to!"

They shared fits of laughter.

"Verse th –"

Hinata stopped Kiba's singing.

With her lips.

And he was glad to oblige.

Their kiss was sweet and short. Hinata's way of saying she was sorry and telling Kiba she would give him a chance.

"Thank you, Kiba," she said as they separated.

She let him hold her, and they sat together. They didn't need kisses, or sex, or anything. Lusty things like that didn't make relationships. Love made relationships. Love and security and happiness, and that's what she felt around Kiba. For so long, she had just overlooked it. Naruto was finally behind her, she was able to move on and see things she never noticed before.

Hinata and Kiba could sit in each other's presence forever and ever. Because whenever she was with him, she was happy.

And she wanted to be happy.

* * *

I... think that's the end. It's a nice way to finish something off, I guess. 

I. Have. Never. Written. Anything. This cheesy. In my life. But that's ok! It was so much fun!

Wow. I am amazed at how much this story has changed from my original plan.

If anyone is wondering, Naruto didn't ask Ino because she was sleeping. (I bet she absorbed some traits from Shikamaru), and Kiba didn't have Akamaru because he dropped him off at his house. How else did you think Hinata had so much time to do everything before he came back?

I may or may not make a sequel. I have a few ideas...

Thanks for reading.

Review now please?

Bye. x3

- jiao


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